


Never Wake Up Alone

by Naumaxia



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Nightmares, Post Season 6, SO MUCH FLUFF, Sleepy Cuddles, Waking Up, with a fluffy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 21:01:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29782038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naumaxia/pseuds/Naumaxia
Summary: Emma has a nightmare but when she wakes up Killian is gone.In other words how Hook’s many close experiences with death and darkness effect one of the series best couples.
Relationships: Captain Hook | Killian Jones & Emma Swan, Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Emma Swan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	Never Wake Up Alone

**Author's Note:**

> I think I’ve been missing having someone to hold recently, so enjoy this fluffy little drabble about captain swan being adorable.

It started the same way it always did, watching him drown. Zelena was cackling away, delighting in her dilemma. She flings him across the yard and Emma scrambles over to him as she does every time.   
“Killian, come back to me.” She pleads, but he can’t hear her. And so she just kisses him and begs him not to die. 

Then the light floods in from all sides, the grass springs up around her and those dreaded pink flowers bloom.   
“Let me go.” he begs her, as she watches his life slip away in her arms. She shakes her head furiously and clings onto him. She can’t let him go, no matter how much she wants to. She knows it won’t end here, it never does. He literally slips through her fingers as everything starts to go dark.

Tears are streaming down both their faces. Her hands won’t stop shaking as she holds Excalibur out in front of her.   
“Please no...” she whispers more to herself than to anyone else. It’s no use, it’s never any use. She runs him straight through again and listens to his strangled cry as he collapses at her feet.  
“No, no, no, no!” She falls down next to him and her hands continue to shake as she tries to hold him close one last time. 

The chain shudders and drops him another few feet. She screams out to him, and tries as hard as she can to drag her feet forward another inch. His face is battered and bleeding freely as hell fire tints the colour of the sky.   
“Killian!” She calls one more time. “Just hold on! I’m right here!” Her voice catches at the end and she feels the hope drain out of her. 

And then it’s all quiet again.   
“We’ve already had more time than we were ever meant to.” He smiles sadly and kisses her hand as the elevator drags her away from him. She screams again, fighting helplessly to get back to him. Pulling at the bars and kicking at the floor. Screaming and screaming but he can’t hear a word. 

——————————

“Killian!” Her voice was hoarse and croaky as she snapped awake. She took a single deep breath and reached out into the space next to her, but the bed was cold.   
“Killian?” She whispered more frantically, not wanting to wake Henry next door. Her eyes darted rapidly around the room, but there was no one. His rings and jewellery were still sat in a little tin dish on the dresser, but his hook was missing from its usual place on the night stand.   
“No...” she was starting to panic now. She tried to keep the floorboards from creaking as she hurried down the stairs.  
“Killian?” She called a little louder this time, hastily pulling a coat on over her night shirt and grabbing a sword from by the door.  
“Killian where are you?” She was asking herself more than him now. She fumbled with the keys for a minute, but the moment she learnt against the front door it quietly clicked open, and she stumbled outside.

And there he was. Sat quietly on the front steps, staring out into the night. He held his hook in his good hand, running it through his fingers habitually. He always looked different at night. When you stripped away the leather, and the jewellery, and the eyeliner, he looked more human like. Just having his hook detached from his arm made him seem more vulnerable. The man sat in his pyjama trousers on the porch wasn’t some fairytale pirate, he was just what he seemed a man. She supposed this was kind of how she looked without her armour on to protect her.   
“You’re ok...” she breathed out in relief.   
“Swan?” He turned to look at her, eyes searching for something, but not quite finding it. “What are you doing awake at this time of night?”  
“I could ask you the same thing.” She sat down next to him and stared out into the dark as well.   
“Why do I get the feeling you’re out here for the same reason I am?” He asked.   
“I was only looking for you.” She reminded him.  
“I’m sorry if I made you worry, love.” He wrapped his good arm around her and she snuggled into his side, listening to his heart beat ground her in reality. “I couldn’t sleep.”  
“That’s ok.”  
“I’ll talk about it if you will?” He offered.  
“Seems fair.” Emma let a doubtful smile slip from her lips. “I had a bad dream, and when I woke up and you were gone I panicked.”  
“My apologies,” he kissed her gently on the top of her head. “I had something similar I suppose.”  
“Because Captain Hook has nightmares.” She teased half heartedly.   
“You know I’m not the man I used to be.” He said sadly, “that man will always haunt me I fear.”  
“It’s ok,” she squeezed his hand. “We’ve seen the worst of the darkness through.”  
“Aye, that we have.” He smiled at the floor for a minute. “And your dream?”  
“Same one as always.” Emma gritted her teeth slightly. “Just watching you nearly die, losing over and over again. I’ve lost you so many times now, I...” she broke off as a tear escaped her eye, and she swatted it away furiously.   
“Emma,” he turned her face to look at him. “I’m not going anywhere. It’s been nearly a year since I escaped... that place... you know we can survive anything.”  
“I know,” she tried to shake the negativity out of her head. Instead though he just pulled her close, both arms holding her tight to his chest. “But after all this time, I can’t seem to outrun the fear anymore. And every time I go to sleep I’m afraid that this will be one of those nights where I have to lose you all over again...”  
“Why didn’t you tell me this was happening?” He asked quietly, gently wiping the tears from her face.  
“I had hoped it would just go away...” she tried to take the sobs out of her voice and keep it level but she knew she was failing. “And every time it happened you would be there next to me, and I could hold onto you and know you were real... know you were alive... but then you weren’t there... and it was as if you really were gone forever, again.”  
“Shhh,” he stroked her hair gently with what was left of his left arm, occasionally bumping her head with the cold metal, but she didn’t mind. As long as he was there. “You know I’m not going anywhere.” He promised.   
“You once said to me... that we’ve already had more time than we were ever meant to.” There was no point in stopping her voice from shaking anymore. “And I will never stop fighting for you... but what if that’s true... I don’t have the strength to let you go again.”  
“Emma...” he stopped and sighed, hugging her again. “You won’t have to let me go again. I promise love, I won’t ever leave you...”  
“Good,” she tried to calm herself again with another deep breath. “I love you, Killian.” she mumbled into his shoulder.  
“And I you, love.” he placed another kiss on her head. “Come on,” he let go of her and pocketed his hook before helping her to her feet. “You need some sleep.” 

He led her back inside and locked the house up, before crawling back under the covers and holding her close.   
“Killian?” She asked into the darkness.   
“Yes, love?”  
“Do you think all this will ever go away?” She couldn’t see him but she had curled herself up close enough to trace little patterns into his back as she listened to the reassuring sound of his heartbeat once again.   
“I don’t know, love.” He admitted. “But if the price of being with you is a small touch of fear and sleep deprivation, then I will happily pay it.” He hugged her close again and then fell silent for a while. She almost thought he was back asleep when he started fiddling with her hair. “Next time I wake up I’ll make sure to stay here.” He whispered with another kiss. “I promise, you won’t ever have to face those nightmares alone.”  
“Thank you...” she closed her eyes once more and felt herself begin to slip back to sleep. 

The light blinked in through the curtains, irritatingly bright and disrupting what had been a decently peaceful slumber. Emma grabbed the corner of the duvet and pulled it up around her head to block the light out.   
“Look who’s finally awake?” Hook’s mocking tone mumbled into her ear. It was only at this moment that she realised he was still curled up around her. She turned over in his arms to face him and tucked her head under his chin.   
“Morning...” she murmured, wrapping her arms around him and smiling to herself.   
“Good Morning indeed,” he laughed back. “You know you’ll have to let me go soon, your father won’t be happy if I’m any later for my shift.”  
“Why? What’s the time?”  
“About 9.30?” He shrugged and watched her flustered face with amusement.  
“What are you still doing here?! You were meant to be at the station an hour ago?” She leapt out of bed and pulled him to his feet, scowling as he laughed at her some more. His laugh was quickly shut off as she chucked a shirt at his face, but even still be was smiling more than panicking.   
“Just enjoyed the lie in a bit too much then?” She mocked, crossing her arms and giving him ‘a look’.  
“I promised I wouldn’t leave you to wake up alone anymore.” He replied with a playful smile, but there was a softer more serious look in his eyes.   
“Thank you Killian.” She took his hand and squeezed it affectionately. He grinned and pulled her down into his lap. Her thumb stroked his cheek as she smiled down at him and leaned in for a kiss.   
“Anything for you, Swan.” He mumbled. And she smiled into the kiss as she held her pirate safe in her arms. 

So was he inexplicably late to work that day? Yeah... Was David a little tiny bit mad? Most certainly. But was it worth every bit of it to protect his Emma? It always would be. Although maybe next time he might wake her a little sooner to try keep the rest of the Charmings’ happy.


End file.
